The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-07-27
TALKING 500 MILES.
improvements In tho Telephone and
interesting Experiments.

New York Postl
The first Of the long distance telephone
lines was opened between New York and
Philadelphia last January. Since then the
business has increased 50 steadily that the
work Of extending the lines In different di-
rections has been carried ON more rapidly
than was at first proposed, and almost every
week some new town Is reached. The most
important addition Of the last fortnight has
been New Haven. Springfield will be reached
within the next ten days. One Of the officers
Of the American Telephone and Telegraph
Company, which Is engaged In this long dis
tance telephone business, said this morning:
''The chief obstacles TO the use Of the tele-
phone over long distances were the inductive
influences from one wire to another, which
prevents perfect service with single wires
over our short city circuits, and was fatal to
the work over long distances. Ever since 1876
experiments have showed that while IL was
perfectly possible TO telephone with ease be-
tween cities thousand miles apart, a great
deal would have to be done before long dis
tance lines were practicable for commercial
USE The improvements have been made not
so much In the telephone or the receiver.
which remained practically what they were
as Bell left them. but In the wire and the
methods Of insulation. Upon long distances
the trouble from induction Is such that we
are compelled to run our wires In zigzag
fashion from one pole to another, and not Ia
parallel lines we thus use great deal more
wire, but we escape some OF the induction.
In the next place. we use hard drawn copper
wire, instead Of iron, and we use two wires
where the ordinary telephone and telegraph
system uses but one BY means sf great care
in keeping our wires In perfect condition, we
are able to do what seemed impossible In the
early days Of the telephone-that Is. give
business men the convenience Of talking be-
tween New York and cities within SO miles
of New York as easily as II they were within
ten feet Of each other. The first line was
opened from New York to Philadelphia last
January with fifty wires, constituting TWEEN
ty-fve circuits. Some Of these circuits we
have leased outright to business men and
corporations; others we divide up among a
number OF firms, and the others we retain
for transient business. In New York there
a - 100 offices In which there Is direct com
n,,,r; =, tion by our wires with Philadelphia
vvithonf ~ rarting TO the Metropolitan Tele-
phone Service nls Is lar more satisfactory
than when the city terl rtv sss' .acss Ie sse ~
In Philadelphia there are To- " Ian PC ofI,ess
which our wires run directly. Tnes0- srse
are fewer In Philadelphia because q Ia p
part OF the business men prefer TO use tffs,.
instruments we have set up at the chief ho-
tells rather than go 20 the expense Of having
special instruments In their offices. We
charge 81 for a five minutes talk between
New York and Philadelphia; but the charge
begins only when connection has been es-
tablished between the two persons who wish
to talk If we cannot get this connection
made, there Is no charge. Business men who
are telegraphing back and forth every day
know what an amount Of news can be given
by telephone In five minutes II the instru-
ment works perfectly and there are no inter-
TuptiOnS. i suppose that our business In
single messages Of this kind will average
from $50 to $50 day, with the tendency to
increase steadily.
Our New England lines now run through
Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport, Birming-
ham, Ausonia. New Haven, Meriden, New
Britain, Hartford, Essex, New London, and
we connect with all points on the line Of the
Southern New England Telephone Company
in Connecticut. Before the winter Is over
the lines will be open TO Worcester and BOs-
ton. We have thirteen circuits running 10
New Haven. Our lines will be finished 10
Albany before winter and 10 Washington
before spring. We do not attach very much
importance to the Washington line, owing to
the fact that most Of the business will be Of
a newspaper character, sent probably over
leased wires. IL Is perfectly easy for any
large firm to find out whether it will pay
them to lease special wire or a share in
such wire; they have merely TO compare
our charge with the average amount OF their
telegraph bills TO any point at which we
have an office. We make arrangements for
leasing the wire for an hour day OF two
hours day, at any time when a business
man is most In need Of such convenience,
or we give ms a wire for five minutes, or
ten minutes, or twenty minutes every hour
at a fixed price. Or, If firms business Is
very large, we sell them the privilege OF
sending a certain number Of messages at a
reduced rate. The saving In telegraph bills
to railroad companies for Instance. must be
enormous. The Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany leased one OF our circuits at once and
uses 1t constantly; the New York, New Ha-
ven and Hartford Railroad Company leased
wire between New York and New Haven
this week"
In some Of the announcements Of the ex-
tension Of this long-distanee telephone ser
vice, the newspapers have intimated that
the loss of business to the telegraph compa-
nies owing TO this competition would be tre-
| mendous. One Of the officers Of the Western
| Union Telegraph Company, who was asked
| concerning this, said
"Of course the telephone may take the
| place OF the telegraph In many Instances,
| but the moment you get distances Of more
/ than 800 miles the expense Of running double
/ wired circuits Of copper Is going ~ become
/ enormous, and as the number Of telephone
messages which can be sent Is Insignificant
| as compared TO the amount Of business
! which can be done by telegraph. do cot see
| that we need fear any competition. While
| the operators are calling up different people
at the two ends Of a telephone wire between
| Chicago and New York, we could send half
a dozen messages. IL must also be remem-
bered that every day Increases the amount
/ of work which we can get out Of wire.
/ Since the introduction Of the WheatstOne
/ system Of sending. the speed over the wire
has increased from 20 words minute to an
average OF 100. In this Wheatstone system
| Of sending we perf0rate tape Of paper, the
| number oil the perfOrations signifying differ
ent letters OF the alphabet, and this perfor-
| ated tape Is passed under steel point which
closes the circuit every time Il meets with
perforation on the paper. The amount Of
| business which can be sent over the wire
| depends, therefore, solely upon the raptdity
| with which this tape can be passed through
the sending apparatus, for we can keep any
number Of operators busy perforating. The
/ first of these machines was introduced about
/ five years ago. Now We use them to Chicago,
/ to st. Louis, TO New Orleans, and over these
three important lines we send 1900 messages
day, thanks to this invention. On long
/ distances, where there is constant trouble
/ from storms and other accidents, II Is impor-
/ tant to work the wire to its highest capacity
when we have II in working order. We
now use one wire for sending four messages
at time, that Is to say, It Is duplexed for
the Wheatstone system and for the ordinary
| Morse system, thus keeping four people
| busy, two Wheatstone operators and two
Morse In sending, and as many more In re-
ceiving. Another difficulty which all tele-
| pnOne companies tIylhB tO compcLo Win ~
will meet with Is the lack Of any record In
| black and white Stock brokers are not
| likely 10 trust TO a telephrne message when
may be indistinet when they can get II writ
ten out by telegraph"
The possibility Of making some device
which shall register a message coming Dy
telephone has long been discussed, Dut as
vet nothing practicable has appeared. One
inventor mas suggested that some modtfiea-
tion Of the phonograph could be attached to
the receiver, and would be ready at any time
TO repeat what came over the wire. As yet
delicate as the vibration Of a telephone dia
phragm.
BY the giving way Of the piazza Of tn,